Sex Talk: How Biological Sex Influences Gender Communication Differences Throughout Life's Stages

By Dr. Stephen A. Furlich

This book combines social science research with biological science research stemming from rigorous scientific research investigations. It precisely tracks how gender communication differences change as one’s biology and physiology changes, and how these changes occur throughout different stages of life. This text provides easy-to-understand scientific information for better understanding of oneself and others. It teaches one how to strategically communicate more effectively, and even to change biological physiology of oneself and others through simple-to-understand recommendations. This book can benefit all readers from teens to senior citizens in their personal lives, as well as advancing their careers through strategic communication. A reader can start reading any chapter and gain valuable insight. Overwhelming scientific research evidence proves, with absolute 100% certainty, that biological sex influences gender communication differences!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Publishdrive
• Release date: Apr 3, 2021
• ISBN: 9781736640616

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Copyright © 2021 by Stephen A. Furlich

All rights reserved, including reproduction of this book or portions in any form whatsoever except brief quotations within research articles and reviews.

This book is not intended to substitute for professional medical treatment. Consulting with a medical professional is recommended for any problems addressed in this book that one may have. The author is not responsible for outcomes from any treatments attempted based upon information from this book.

Dr. Stephen A. Furlich

Communication Studies Program

Texas A&M University-Commerce

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-7366406-0-9

eBook ISBN: 978-1-7366406-1-6

I would like to thank my parents, Charles and Mary Furlich, for their love and support through the years. They have inspired me to help others through my work.

After reading this book, you should be able to identify 5 differences between these examples of the male and female brains. You should also be able to explain how those distinctions are associated with gender communication differences.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

PART 1: THE BACKDROP OF GENDER COMMUNICATION.

Chapter 1: Are Humans Difficult to Live With or Live Without?

- Basic Need of Touch

- Later Years

- Amount of Touch

- Conclusion

Chapter 2: History of Gender Communication Research

- Gender Communication Information

- Gender Communication Research Methodology

- Biological Science Research

- Gender Communication Research Critiques

- Gender Communication Classes

- Conclusion

Chapter 3: Communibiology History and Research Methods

- Gender Communication Academic Research

- Biology and Communication

- Biological Research Linking Communication

- Early Research in Communibiology

- fMRI

- EEG

- Hormone Research

- Conclusion

PART 2: BIOLOGICAL UNDERPINNINGS OF GENDER COMMUNICATION.

Chapter 4: Where to Begin?

- Sex Differences Beginnings

- Brain Sex Differences

- Brain Sex Differences Controversies

- Sex Hormones and Development

- Sex Hormone Effects

- Fetal Sex Survival

- Conclusion

Chapter 5: Processing Information

- Sex Hormones

- Performance Sex Differences

- Sex Structural Brain Differences

- Sex Structural Performance Differences

- Activation Sex Differences

- Conclusion

PART 3: OH HOW WE DIFFER, COMMUNICATIVELY TOO!

Chapter 6: Talking about Gender Communication

- Biological Basis of Gender Communication

- Hippocampus

- Gray Matter, White Matter

- Corpus Callosum

- Language Social Understanding

- Blood Flow

- Language Differences Evidence

- Spatial Communication

- Conclusion

Chapter 7: She Figured He Understood; Literally He Did Not

- Sex Brain Connections

- Empathy

- Evolutionary Explanations

- Conclusion

Chapter 8: He Answers Only Questions Asked; She Answers Unasked Questions

- Body System Sex Differences

- Conversational Gender Differences

- Conclusion

Chapter 9: He Forgets our Last Conversation, How Previous Conversations Relate to the Current one, Weekend Plans, How She Feels About...

- Sex Physiology and Recall

- Conversation Topic Recall

- Improving Conversational Recall

- Conclusion

PART 4: FEELS SO GOOD.

Chapter 10: How do you Feel?

- Sex Hormones and Emotions

- Depression Gender Differences

- Males and Emotions

- Females and Emotions

- Brain Sex Differences

- Negative Emotional Sex Differences

- Serotonin Sex Differences

- Stress Gender Differences

- Conclusion

Chapter 11: Chill, Don’t Stress

- Affectionate Communication and Stress

- Stress Gender Brain Differences

- Stress and Gender Social Awareness

- Stress and Gender Reaction Differences

- Sex Hormones and Stress

- Conclusion

PART 5: DO YOU UNDERSTAND?

Chapter 12: Women’s 6th Sense

- Female Brain 6th Sense

- Empathy

- Insula

- Oxytocin

- Bio evolution

- Senses

o Smell and Taste

o Touch

o Hearing

o Sight

• Mirror Neurons

• Color

- Conclusion

Chapter 13: The Man Trance

- Resting Males

- Resting Females

- Sex Hormones and Rest

- Resting Activity Gender Differences

- Conclusion

PART 6: NAVIGATING GENDER COMMUNICATION.

Chapter 14: Evolution and Problem Solving

- From the Beginning

- Epigenetics

- Male Biological Traits

- Female Biological Traits

- Conclusion

PART 7: RELATIONSHIPS AND INTIMACY.

Chapter 15: Sexual Intimacy, the Double Standard?

- Gender and Offspring Uncertainty

- Infidelity Problems

- Gender Mating Differences

- Sexual Desire & Functioning

o Attention

o Arousal

o Orgasm

- Biological Sexual Differences

- Conclusion

Chapter 16: Should we Date, Procreate?

- Evolutionary Mate Selecting

- Male Attractiveness

- Female Attractiveness

- Applying Evolutionary Attraction

- Body Hair

- Unconscious Attraction

- Conclusion

Chapter 17: Relationship Needs

- Relationship Physiology

- Sexual Desire and Hormones

- Sexual Readiness

- Oxytocin, the Bonding Chemical

- Synchrony and Mimicry

- Love Physiology

- Relationship Maintenance

- Conclusion

Chapter 18: She Demands, He Withdraws

- Demand and Withdraw

- Conflict Management Styles

- Helpful Solutions

- Conclusion

Chapter 19: Difficult Relationship Conversations

- Uncertainty Reductions Theory

- Gender Timing for Criticism

- How to Criticize

- Relationship Perception

- Empathy

- Deception

- Conclusion

PART 8: GENERAL ISSUES AND TOPICS.

Chapter 20: Her Hobbies, His Hobbies

- Early Childhood Hobby Differences

- Adult Hobby Differences

- Sex Hormones and Hobbies

- Conclusion

Chapter 21: I Want a Baby, and Another...

- Evolutionary Baby Desires

- Pregnancy

- Post-Pregnancy

- Depression

- Conclusion

Chapter 22: the Family

- Children & Gender

- Boys

- Girls

- Family Unit

- Clothing

- Later Years

- Conclusion

Chapter 23: Let’s Eat

- Gender Food Perceptions

- Insula Sex Differences and Food

- Sex Hormone Food Differences

- Eating Disorders and Gender

- Conclusion

Chapter 24: Workplace

- Gender Pay Gap

- Gender Discrimination

- Basic Biological Workplace Influences

- Biological Environmental Responses

- Language Career Skills

- Gender Communication Applied in the Workplace

- Gender Specific Advantages and Disadvantages

- Conclusion

Chapter 25: Where do we go From Here?

- Hormone Therapy

- Women

- Men

- Psychological Effects

- Conclusion

Chapter 26: ‘10 Life Lessons’

References

Index

About the author

INTRODUCTION

I have taught communication classes for over twenty years at the university level consisting of at least fifteen different course subjects. My time here has led me to find a tremendous need for both communication research and communication classes taught for practical and specific information that can be used in everyday life.

Often, the most admired research and classes taught in communication and related fields are comprised of information that is difficult to apply both professionally and personally. The information is too theoretical and abstract to be applied, or has too many variables in one study to deduce any practical use. It may also be true that the world is seen as too complex to make any generalizations from specific information. Another major issue is research in social sciences and related fields often lacking scientific rigor.

I have taught a gender communication class at the university level for many years and have found these aforementioned problems and many more. The lack of diversity of perspectives in research regarding gender communication has left a void for understanding the subject. The lack of diversity of thought is one reason for this shortcoming in gender communication research.

My personal experiences with teaching gender communication classes over the years has lead me to write this book. I became frustrated by the limited different perspectives on the topic within the social sciences. I would come across the same research narratives over and over: that any differences in gender communication can be accounted for by social influences.

I would then have to use other research from the sciences, such as biology and neuroscience, to bring other perspectives to the topic. Therefore, I would use several different research approaches in class, one from the social sciences and others from the sciences of biology and neurosciences. I would have to bring these different research tracks together for a more comprehensive understanding of gender communication.

The students taking my gender communication classes over the years have clearly expressed a shared sentiment. They overwhelmingly were not aware of biological influences with gender communication, but often noticed the biological gender communication differences in their everyday lives. They expressed their deep appreciation for my covering of biological influences with gender communication, which they could use to understand and communicate more effectively with others after taking this class.

I have found a third element lacking with the study of gender communication, even after bringing together the social sciences and sciences involving biology and neuroscience from everyday life: More information and perspectives on gender communication are needed, not less. This is what has brought me to write this book; I aim to bring together the social sciences, sciences of biology and neuroscience, and to tie this information together into a practical guide for everyday life, both personally and professionally.

This book combines social science research with biological science research stemming from rigorous scientific research investigations. It precisely tracks how gender communication differences change as one’s biology and physiology changes, and how these changes occur throughout different stages of life. This text provides easy-to-understand scientific information for better understanding of oneself and others. It teaches one how to strategically communicate more effectively, and even to change biological physiology of oneself and others through simple-to-understand recommendations. This book can benefit all readers from teens to senior citizens in their personal lives, as well as advancing their careers through strategic communication. A reader can start reading any chapter and gain valuable insight. Overwhelming scientific research evidence proves, with absolute 100% certainty, that biological sex influences gender communication differences!

PART 1

THE BACKDROP OF GENDER COMMUNICATION

CHAPTER 1

ARE HUMANS DIFFICULT TO LIVE WITH OR LIVE WITHOUT?

Humans are a complex species. These complexities range from the way we think, feel, communicate, relate with others, and survive to mention a few areas. These should not be thought of as separate areas, but rather as interrelated. They are interdependent and influence the whole person. To add to the complexity, it is often a delicate balance to maintain a healthy person. Too much or too little attention or focus in one area can lead to overstimulation in that area and neglect for other areas of life. An underlining theme for these areas and humans as a whole is communication.

Communication is essential in order to survive.²⁰⁷ For the most part, humans rely upon others for their own survival. This can come in the form of basic needs such as food, water, shelter, and in modern society employment and money. Furthermore, humans have a necessity for connecting with others and building different forms of relationships.

Evidence of this is present prior to birth. Human fetuses look toward three dots that resemble a human face but do not look toward three dots that do not resemble a human face.⁵⁴⁹ Oved (2017) contends that the need for love and belongingness is more crucial to human survival than was originally set forth in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. This viewpoint is taken because love and belongingness is a prerequisite to feeling safe. The security that comes from forming interpersonal relationships is especially vital to society’s continuation. Humans have a need to build and maintain relationships with other people. Of course, in order to do this, communication is key. However, the more pressing question to ask involves the parameters of this need.

BASIC NEED OF TOUCH

Let’s first begin by understanding the importance of touch. Evidence has shown that this physical and psychological need to connect with others greatly influences our physical health.²¹¹ Harlow and Zimmerman (1958) had one of the first studies showing the need monkeys have to connect: through touch for psychological and physical development and health, even if the touch and connection is with an inanimate object. Recent research has also found similar results.⁶¹⁶ This same essential need for touch can also be found with humans.

Haney (2018) describes the extreme side effects of solitary confinement in incarceration facilities. When a person is isolated for over twenty-four hours, it takes a serious toll on their psychological health. They can begin to lose sense of time; their senses become much more fragile; hallucination becomes frequent, and the person exhibits dangerously unhealthy behaviors. These lead to psychological damage, which influences the individual’s physical health as well. This includes appetite, sleep, behavioral routines, and self-mutilation.

The human need for connecting through touch begins early on in everyone’s lives. The health and well-being of newborns is dependent upon connecting with other humans, especially through the use of touch. Infants having contact with caregivers is necessary because it provides necessary comfort and stress relief.⁶⁴³ There was an institution years ago that had infants. A serious problem started to occur with development among the newborns. It was perplexing because the newborn babies had all of their physical needs met, such as food, water, shelter, and sleep. However, one key component was missing: connecting and bonding with other humans. The babies were not touched except during feeding times. This led to developmental problems from what some have called, informally, a broken heart. Once the institution began to incorporate holding the infants into protocol, it did not take long to see improved health results.⁹⁸ Touch plays an important role in an infant’s life because the infant takes on the emotional state of the caregiver through touch.⁶⁹⁰

Recently, orphanages have seen even greater positive psychological and mental health outcomes in orphanages with intentional healthy touch. Knowing that someone cares is one such outcome. The Buds to Blossom organization has utilized affective touch learned through massage therapy training for children in orphanages. Affective touch communicates compassion and caring to the children, and positively affects physiological as well as psychological development that boosts the immune system.⁴⁴⁸ The importance of touch is further illustrated by breastfeeding mothers, who are more cognitively sensitive to their infant’s crying needs than mothers who do not breastfeed.³⁴²

LATER YEARS

In our later years, the need for connecting with others and touch is not much different. Pressman and Sheldon (2005) found social support linked to physiological health of residents in senior living. Residents who had more social relationships with others had healthier physiological states. Lubkin and Larson (2013) describe the negative impact on mental and physical health of people living in isolation, such as in senior living facilities. Their findings of senior living facilities resemble those of Menehan’s (2012) findings related to children living in orphanages.

Senior living facilities have realized this need for contact with other people and have made adjustments to meet the needs of their residents. Facilities now build social support systems between the residents living in the facility, and train employees to socially engage with residents.⁵⁷⁶, ⁶⁰¹ Time has not changed the need for touch. Now, some senior living facilities even have robotic assistants with which their senior residents may interact.⁵²⁰

AMOUNT OF TOUCH

Now that it has been established that touch and connecting with others is important psychologically and physically, one can conclude the more touch the better. Wrong; too much touch or crowdedness can be detrimental to one’s psychological and physical health.⁵¹⁸ Walk down any major sidewalk or take public transportation in any big city and observe the effects of overcrowding. People tend to view other people less individually, empathize less, make less eye contact, and display fewer socially polite behaviors. These are the result of stress caused by too much crowding. Numerous studies have found negative effects of too many animals living in the same area. One of the major outcomes is disease.³⁷⁴

A classic study is Christian’s (1963) study of the effects of overcrowding with deer. The deer had plenty of food, water, and shelter to meet their basic needs. However, they began to die off regardless. The one commonality for this was the stress caused by overcrowding of too many animals in one place. The psychological stress from overcrowding led to a weakened immune system. As a result, the deer became less healthy and more vulnerable to dying off.

Humans need some connection with others and to exchange touch; two people living together in a relationship must be ideal. The answer is not that simple. If it were, then the excessively stated statistic that half of marriages end in divorce would not be consistently found.²¹ Digging beyond a simple number of how many people should live together, it is the lack of communication and also arguing that are in the top-five popular reasons for divorce according to several studies covering years of data collection.³⁸⁷

Again, our needs for survival come back to communication. If it were true that males and females are so similar to each other and communicate the same way, then the divorce rate would not stem from arguing and conflict as the top reasons for divorce. Scientific evidence suggests gender communication differences, such as females being more sensitive to touch. They can sense touch more acutely and experience more pain than what a male will feel from the same touch.³²² Hence, relating to others is important and touch plays a vital role, but males and females have different sensitivities and experiences with touch.

CONCLUSION

Humans have a basic need to have social interactions with others. This has been found early on in life and carries throughout one’s life. However, it is complex in terms of the amount of interaction and the circumstances of the interactions. If a vital component of a relationship such as touch can have gender communication differences then perhaps other areas of communication essential in relationships can differ as well.

It is the intention of this book to explore these other areas of communication that may differ between males and females, and how they influence how we communicate and understand each other. Specifically, the rest of this book aims to better understand how our biological sex influences how we communicate and interpret other people throughout our lives. To ignore biological sex as a factor influencing communication is detrimental to forming and maintaining healthy relationships, both personally and professionally.

CHAPTER 2

HISTORY OF GENDER COMMUNICATION RESEARCH

What we know about a topic is often dependent upon the available information. Gender communication is no different. What we know about gender communication is dependent upon the researchers producing it and the publishers publishing it.

Before diving deeper into the research that is responsible for the majority of available information on gender communication, let’s identify a few basic definitions. Often, the general public uses the words sex and gender interchangeably, but they are not the same. Sex refers to one’s biological makeup characteristics of male or female.²¹ Sex involves chromosome pairing usually of XX or XY, genetic coding, reproductive organs, and body chemical composition to mention a few areas. These inner sex characteristics often influence the outward appearance of individuals.

Gender, on the other hand, is a social construct involving how one communicates, behaves, and one’s outward appearance.²¹ As one can observe from the definition of gender, it is studied and understood from a social perspective compared to sex that is understood and studied from a biological science approach.

GENDER COMMUNICATION INFORMATION

Much of the available information that we have about gender communication studies gender as a social construct while ignoring the role of biological sex. The vast majority of research about gender communication approaches gender as a separate construct from biological sex. This approach limits the amount of perspectives and information available addressing gender communication. Often, having fewer perspectives and ideas is detrimental to holistically understanding a given area of study.

How did understanding gender communication reach this point of limited perspectives and approaches? It begins at a basic level and grows from there. Tannen (1990) has a central piece addressing gender communication. She takes the position that there are language gender communication differences between males and females. This argument comes from a sociolinguistic approach. Essentially, from this perspective, society creates these gender communication differences. This occurs because boys and girls grow up in two different cultures, according to Tannen. Assumptions are made as to how males and females should communicate, and society reinforces these assumptions. Those who abide by these standards are rewarded, and those who do not abide often experience repercussions. Gender communication classes are taught mostly from this sociolinguistic perspective. This approach does not recognize biological sex as playing a part with influencing one’s communication, but rather the way culture structures the communication for that particular sex.

Biological sex does not fit the sociolinguistic narrative on gender communication. To think that gender communication differences are entirely derived from society is unequivocally incorrect. Societies change, social norms change, and social structures change, but some of the same gender communication differences persist regardless.⁹⁷

It is rather easy to understand how the study of gender communication arrived to this point. The instructors teaching gender communication classes tend to come from the sociolinguistic paradigm embracing the different cultures approach, with Tannen’s (1990) book as a major contributor. Universities hire individuals that fit this line of thinking, which match those already teaching gender communication. Instructors teach their classes accordingly. This involves biology as a non-factor of influence with gender communication.

The instructors only account for part of the lack of diversity of perspectives on gender communication. The textbooks are written based on previous research, which is often conducted by these same individuals with similar viewpoints on gender communication. Therefore, students get a double exposure to the same set of ideals—one from the instructor, and the other from course materials all reinforcing the same topics and narratives about gender communication, often from a sociolinguistics approach.

GENDER COMMUNICATION RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The research process resembles that of the teaching process for gender communication. It often involves submitting manuscripts to academic journals. The review process involves one person who is deemed an expert on the topic serving as a journal editor. The journal editor receives the manuscript and sends it out to two or three reviewers, who are also deemed experts on the subject. The reviewers give their feedback about manuscripts to the editor, who then decides which manuscripts get published in academic journals and which do not.

These academic journal articles are the ones used for course material in classes taught, such as synthesizing them together for a class textbook. As is the case with gender communication research, the journal editor often has similar perspectives as the journal reviewers of articles. Therefore, the same ideas and perspectives get accepted and those that differ often do not. Frequently the gender communication editor and reviewers have a sociolinguistic approach to gender communication.

Diversity of thought is lacking in the study of gender communication, especially regarding the influence of biological sex. To sum up available gender communication information: you have people with similar ideas, values, and perspectives, in charge of hiring the instructors, teaching the classes, conducting the research, and influencing what research gets published and which does not. That is the system that controls the available information about gender communication.

This book differs from Tannen’s (1990) sociolinguistics approach to gender communication. This book takes the position that rather than society, different cultures, and language structure influencing gender communication differences, gender communication differences are a reflection of biological differences in the areas responsible for communication. These areas include the human brain and sex hormones. The human brain is a major contributing factor to all human communication. Furthermore, analyzing brain characteristics can distinguish biological sex with over 90% accuracy.²²

The research methods often employed in gender communication research vary. Issues can arise about the objectivity of the research design of popular gender communication research data collection techniques.⁴⁰⁴ Gender communication research often relies upon the researcher’s interpretations of data to determine results of a study.⁶¹⁹ The research methods can range from theoretical pieces, television viewing data, textbook language use, pictures in books, and mass media portrayals to mention a few of the interpretive methods of data collecting.¹⁷¹, ⁴⁰³, ⁵¹⁷, ⁵³³, ⁵⁴⁶, ⁶³³

When reading these articles, it is difficult to understand the level of objective certainty when statistical analyses do not represent the data. In other words, it is upon the researchers to determine the major themes to infer from a study rather than relying upon statistical analysis to determine the conclusions. Often, these data-gathering techniques do not have a predetermined criteria threshold of requiring statistical 95% certainty that their findings are a result of their data and not from other factors. This is important because that is the criteria for biological research to be deemed statistically credible.

In order for research in biology to credibly claim that there is a significant contributing variable for a particular finding, they have to be at least 95% certain that it is that particular variable’s contribution and no more than 5% uncertain that it may be from some other variable. Otherwise, the biological scientific research finding is considered nonsignificant.

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH

The biological sciences conduct research in highly controlled environments, such as labs that enable them to isolate other distracting variables and focus only on the variables of interest. The statistical analyses in biological research is also rigorous. One approach involves using statistical analyses to compare the results of two sample groups, such as male scores and female scores for a particular gender communication variable.²⁴⁹, ⁴¹⁶ Another methodological approach in biological science is to statistically test whether there is a significant correlational relationship between two variables, as one variable changes then another is likely to change as well.⁷²²

These controlled experiments help to control the research environment, reduce researcher biases, and have statistics that support findings. Some of the research about biological sex influencing gender communication comes from the highest quality neuroscience research programs, psychology programs, medical schools, and psychiatry clinics at the most highest prestigious universities and private practices in the world. It is this type of research that is used throughout this book.

GENDER COMMUNICATION RESEARCH CRITIQUES

Soderlund and Madison (2017) investigated whether gender studies and closely related fields of study in the social sciences had research considered to be less objective when compared with other research areas